Apparatus and method for remotely operating plurality of information devices connected to a network provided with plug-and-play function

ABSTRACT

When a remote display device is connected to a home network, a home network control apparatus receives a request from the remote display device, shows a display for use in operating a device to be operated on the remote display device, and controls the device to be operated according to a desired operation input from the remote display device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a network control apparatus forcontrolling operations of peripheral devices and a remote operationdevice for displaying statuses of the peripheral devices and remotelyoperating the peripheral devices in an environment for using theperipheral devices connected to a network constructed in the home,office or the like.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] In recent years, with techniques using the internet progressingremarkably, the internet has been widely spread in not only companies,but also in general homes. The internet is mainly used for e-mail,internet shopping, internet telephone and Web search in the homes. Thenit becomes familiar also to the homes to connect a plurality of personalcomputers and peripheral devices such as a printer as a network toshare. This technique is achieved by blending and combining, forexample, services provided from an internet provider, technique ofnetworks including Ethernet, internet protocol (IP), and OS of personalcomputer.

[0005] Meanwhile, there is proposed an attempt to connect electricdevices (devices to be operated) such as a scanner, digital TV, andrefrigerator to a home network to collectively control a lot of electricproducts (so-called information home electric appliances) existing inthe home.

[0006] However, most of products connected to the home network to beoperated do not have IP addresses. Hence it is impossible to transmitdata using the internet from a remote place to the products connected tothe home network to be operated such as a digital TV.

[0007] Further, it is possible to handle most of the products connectedto the home network to be operated only using data format dedicated tothe corresponding electric products, and therefore such products requireparticular conversion processing. For example, when a color image showedon a digital TV is output to a color printer, it is necessary to convertthe RGB data format into the CMYK data format.

[0008] Further, there is a problem on the operability of products to beoperated besides the above-mentioned problems on the IP address and dataformat. Man-machine interfaces provided on preexisting products to beoperated are particularly limited, and therefore it is necessary togreatly change the man-machine interfaces of the products to be operatedto use the products in operative connection with others on a network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The present invention was carried out in view of the foregoing.It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus forgreatly improving the operability of products connected to a homenetwork to be operated in using the products on the network, withoutchanging the man-machine interfaces of the products to be operated.

[0010] It is an another object of the present invention to provide aremote display device enabling improved operability of the productsconnected to the home network to be operated in using the products onthe network.

[0011] In the present invention, when the remote display device isconnected to the home network, a home network control apparatus receivesa request from the remote display device, shows a display to operate theproducts to be operated and controls the products to be operatedaccording to inputs on the operation from the remote display device.

[0012] It is thereby possible to achieve the improved operabilitywithout changing the man-machine interfaces of the preexistingperipheral devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The above and other objects and features of the invention willappear more fully hereinafter from a consideration of the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawing whereinone example is illustrated by way of example, in which;

[0014]FIG. 1 is a system construction diagram illustrating a situationthat home network control apparatuses are used according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

[0015]FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the home network controlapparatus according to the above embodiment;

[0016]FIG. 3 is a management table of the home network control apparatusaccording to the above embodiment;

[0017]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of processing in the home network controlapparatus when a remote display device is connected to a home networkaccording to the above embodiment;

[0018]FIG. 5 is a structural diagram of an initial operation displayshowed on the remote display device;

[0019]FIG. 6 is a structural diagram of an input display showed on theremote display device;

[0020]FIG. 7 is a structural diagram of a status displaying displayshowed on the remote display device;

[0021]FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a first half of receivingprocessing in the home network control apparatus according to the aboveembodiment; and

[0022]FIG. 9 is a flow diagram illustrating a latter half of thereceiving processing in the home network control apparatus according tothe above embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] An embodiment of the present invention will be describedspecifically below with reference to accompanying drawings.

[0024]FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a situation that home networkcontrol apparatuses are used according to the present invention. It isconstructed that home information networks provided in homes A and B arecapable of accessing to the internet 101 via internet service providers102 a and 102 b respectively.

[0025] Each home network control apparatus 103 connects a respectivehome information network with internet service provider 102 a (102 b).Home network control apparatus 103 is connected in parallel to serialbus network 104 conforming to IEEE 1394 (hereinafter referred to as IEEE1394 network) and Ethernet 106.

[0026] IEEE 1394 network 104 connects various peripheral devices 105that are not able to access to the internet by themselves. Peripheraldevices 105 are capable of connecting to IEEE 1394 network 104 easily byconnecting to an IEEE 1394 hub. In the present invention, remote displaydevice 108 is connected to the above-mentioned IEEE 1394 hub as one ofperipheral devices 105.

[0027] It is assumed that Ethernet 106 connects personal computer 107and other peripheral devices that have respective IP addresses. Inaddition, some information home electric appliances connected toEthernet 106 are not able to access to the internet by themselves.

[0028] Thus, various information devices (such as a personal computer,printer, scanner, digital TV, digital camera, refrigerator, hot-watersupply system, electric power meter, and tap water meter) existing inhome A or B are combined as a home information network using homenetwork control apparatus 103, Ethernet 106, and IEEE 1394 network 104.

[0029] Although the home information network includes peripheral devicesthat are not able to communicate through the internet, home networkcontrol apparatus 103 enables the peripheral devices to communicatethrough the internet.

[0030]FIG. 2 illustrates a functional block diagram of home networkcontrol apparatus 103.

[0031] System control section 201 is comprised of a CPU and controls theentire operation of home network control apparatus 103. System controlsection 201 communicates data with each section in the apparatus throughinternal bus 202.

[0032] Application converting section 203 are comprised of a pluralityof pieces of software prepared corresponding to respective applications(data formats) of the peripheral devices. The software of each deviceoperates to convert data received from another device into data withformat enabling the device to handle the data.

[0033] Operation control processing section 204 receives an operationrequest from display section 105 a provided in peripheral apparatus 105and remote display device 108, while outputting an operation displayinstructed from system control section 201 to display section 105 a orremote display device 108. The section 204 performs processing such asGUI processing of a display showed on display section 105 a or remotedisplay device 108.

[0034] Outside connection communication section 205 performs protocolprocessing to communicate with an external network (out of home) througha communication medium such as the internet, ISDN and ADSL. For example,when a communication using the internet is performed, an internetprotocol is executed.

[0035] Home network communication section 206 controls media of IEEE1394 network 104 and Ethernet 106 composing the home informationnetwork. Home network communication section 206 controls communicationsbetween peripheral devices 105 connected to the home information networkand home network control apparatus 103 (including data transmissionbetween the peripheral devices 105 via home network control apparatus103).

[0036] First memory section 207 is comprised of a RAM and is a work areafor use in writing and reading data by application software started bysystem control section 201.

[0037] IP processing section 208 provides functions for identifying andconverting an IP address. IP processing section 208 identifies a type ofIP address (IPv4 or IPv6) contained in a destination of received data,and adds a destination IP address to transmission data. Further, thesection 208 converts an address system of IP address when necessary. Forexample, the section 208 converts an address system of IPv6 into that ofIPv4.

[0038] Memory control section 209 controls second memory section 210 tocontrol write and read of data. Second memory section 210 is used tostore a program and temporarily store data.

[0039] Security managing section 211 protects an improper access to thehome network through the internet, using a password.

[0040] Management table 212 manages IP addresses assigned to all theperipheral devices including virtual IP addresses used on the homeinformation network. In the present invention, the virtual IP addressesare assigned to peripheral devices (hereinafter referred to as non-IPperipheral devices) that generally do not access to the internet bythemselves to communicate and therefore originally do not have an IPaddress, such as a digital camera, scanner and printer among theperipheral devices.

[0041] As shown in FIG. 3, management table 212 controls IEEE 1394 nodeID 301, unique ID 303, device attribute 304 and application type 305each in relation to IP address 302 of each device. Node ID 301 is adevice number assigned to each terminal on the IEEE 1394 network. On theIEEE 1394 network, a device is assigned the node ID automatically at thetime of connecting to the network, while being assigned a new node IDusing a predetermined algorithm at the time of bus reset, and thereforethere is a possibility that the node ID changes as the time elapses.Unique ID 303 is an identification number inherently assigned to thedevice existing on the IEEE 1394 network, and does not change. Deviceattribute 304 is indicative of a function attribute of the deviceexisting on the IEEE 1394 network. Specifically, device attribute 304has information that enables recognition of a product (such as camera,television or printer) and function (such as CCD, digital or color) of aCCD camera, digital TV, scanner, color printer or the like. Applicationtype 305 has a number of an application to be converted to be adapted toa designated device. Management table 212 has remote display device 108registered therewith as one of the peripheral devices connected to IEEE1394 network 104.

[0042] Referring to above-mentioned management table 212 enables acommunication partner to be recognized successively even when the nodeID is re-assigned automatically at the time the plug-and-play functionoperates based on the IEEE 1394, and is different from a previous nodeID. Further, by starting an application of a device to be used using theIP address, it is possible to perform application conversion service viathe internet between the IEEE 1394 devices, between Ethernet devices andbetween a combination of the devices.

[0043] A specific explanation is next given of the contents ofoperations of the home network control apparatus using remote displaydevice 108.

[0044] IEEE 1394 network 104 easily expands the number of connectedperipheral devices by using IEEE 1394 hub 213. Meanwhile, among devicesinstalled in the home, there are a small number of devices such as acopier that operate independently to complete the operation thereof, andare a large number of devices that operate with another device(s) tocomplete a desired operation such as printing that is performed by ascanner and a printer.

[0045] In this embodiment, remote display device 108 is connected toIEEE 1394 hub 213 existing in the vicinity of peripheral devices 105 tobe used, and a user operates peripheral devices 105 using remote displaydevice 108. For example, a case is assumed that an original is scannedwith a scanner that is one of the peripheral devices connected to IEEE1394 network 104 and the scanned image is printed out from a printerthat is also one of the peripheral devices connected to IEEE 1394network 104. While various settings for the printer cannot be performedconventionally except using a PC having an installed printer driver, thesettings are performed with home network control apparatus 103 throughremote display device 108 instead of the PC in the present invention.

[0046]FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating processing performed in homenetwork control apparatus 103 by connecting remote display device 108 toIEEE 1394 network 104. When remote display device 108 is connected toIEEE 1394 hub 213, the node IDs assigned previously are reset once, andnew node IDs are assigned to peripheral devices including remote displaydevice 108.

[0047] When remote display device 108 is newly included in theperipheral devices assigned the node ID, system control section 201judges that remote display device 108 is connected to IEEE 1394 network104 (ST40).

[0048] When remote display device 108 is connected, operation controlprocessing section 204 generates an initial operation display fordisplaying icons of peripheral devices that needs support of remotedisplay device 108 to operate. FIG. 5 illustrates a structural exampleof the initial operation display. The display includes charactersequences for an operation guidance to a user as well as icons of theperipheral devices. Home network communication section 206 transmitsdata on the initial operation display generated by operation controlprocessing section 204 to IEEE 1394 network 104. Remote display device108 fetches data having the node ID thereof from a data stream, therebyfetches the data on the initial operation display from the network, andshows the display shown in FIG. 5 on a display section.

[0049] A user selects a device to operate from the initial operationdisplay using the operation section of remote display device 108.Selected data is transmitted from remote display device 108 to IEEE 1394network 104.

[0050] In home network control apparatus 103, home network communicationsection 206 fetches data having the node ID thereof from the data streamof the network. When the section 206 fetches the data on the selecteddevice transmitted from remote display device 108, the section 206determines the contents of operations based on the data on the selecteddevice (ST42). For example, when a scanner and a specific printer areselected on the initial operation display, it is judged that thecontents of operations are indicative of scanning an original with thescanner and of printing the original with the printer. It is assumedthat expected contents of operations are made in the form of a patternin advance corresponding to a combination of icons (peripheral devices).

[0051] In addition, there is a case that the contents of operations arenot determined with the display showed once. In this case, showing thedisplay and receiving the data on selection are repeated some times.

[0052] Further it may be possible to analyze a character sequence inputfrom the operation section of remote display device 108 to judge thecontents of operations, or to provide the operation section withfunction keys to judge the contents of operations corresponding to apressed function key, instead of determining the contents of operationsonly with a selected icon.

[0053] It is assumed herein that a scanner and a laser printer areselected on the initial operation display. In this case, it is necessaryto instruct the laser printer of the number of sheets to print. Theapparatus 103 judges that this case needs data input (ST43), generatesdata on an input display for requesting a user to input data, andtransmits the data on the input display to remote display device 108 todisplay the input display (ST44). FIG. 6 illustrates an input displayfor use in instructing the laser printer of the number of sheets toprint.

[0054] For example, when a user selects the number of sheets to copy onthe input display (FIG. 6) showed on remote display device 108 andpresses a confirmation button, the input data is added the node ID ofhome network control apparatus 103 and transmitted to the network.

[0055] Home network control apparatus 103 acquires the input datatransmitted from remote display device 108 from the network (ST45). Theapparatus 103 determines whether application conversion is requiredcorresponding to the contents of operation determined at step ST42(ST46). When the data conversion is required, system control section 201instructs application converting section 203 to start up correspondingsoftware (ST47). Based on the node ID or UID of the device to beoperated (laser printer), the section 201 fetches an application type ofthe laser printer from management table 212, and acquires a softwarenumber to convert data format to be adapted to the laser printer. Thusacquired software number is notified to application converting section203.

[0056] Meanwhile, image data scanned with the scanner operated by theuser is transmitted from the scanner to home network control apparatus103. Home network control apparatus 103 stores the image data receivedfrom the scanner in first memory section 207.

[0057] Then, the software started by application converting section 203reads the image data from first memory section 207, and converts theimage data into data with format adapted to the laser printer (ST48).Specifically, printer software generates descriptor text required forthe printer, and writes again the text in first memory section 207.

[0058] Next, system control section 201 provides the image dataconverted into PDL to home network communication section 206 to transmitto the network with a designated output destination indicative of thelaser printer that is previously selected (ST49).

[0059] The laser printer fetches the data addressed to the printer fromIEEE 1394 network 104, and is thus capable of printing out the data.

[0060] Meanwhile, when home network control apparatus 103 judges thatthe data input is not necessary at above-mentioned step ST43, theprocessing flow shifts to ST140, and the section 103 judges whether ornot a request is made for displaying a status of the device to beoperated. When the request is made for displaying the status of thedevice to be operated at ST42, the apparatus 103 collects information onthe device to be operated based on, for example, control informationstored in management table 212 and first memory section 207 (ST141).

[0061] For example, it is assumed that the apparatus 103 receives fromremote display device 108 a request for displaying a status of a digitalTV that is a peripheral device on IEEE 1394 network 104 of home A, andthat data is received via the internet from home B with a destinationindicative of the digital TV of home A.

[0062] In this case, the device to be operated is turned off or is notconnected to the network when the device is not assigned the node ID,and therefore home network control apparatus 103 generates a statusdisplay comprised of a message for instructing a user to turn on thedevice. Further, when the apparatus 103 detects that received data witha destination indicative of the digital TV is stored in first memorysection 207, the apparatus 103 adds another message for notifying theuser of the received data to be reproduced to the status display. Then,the apparatus 103 transmits the data on the generated status display toremote display device 108 (ST142). As a result, remote display device108 shows information on the device to be operated. FIG. 7 illustratesan example of a display showed when a digital TV is selected as a deviceto be operated of which the status should be showed.

[0063] When the user turns on the digital TV and inputs that the powersupply is completed from remote display device 108, the received datastored in first memory section 207 is output to the digital TV based onthe IEEE 1394. The received data output based on the IEEE 1394 isalready converted with software started by application convertingsection 203 to have a data format enabling the digital TV to display thedata, and thereby the digital TV is capable of displaying the receiveddata.

[0064] A next explanation is given of the operation when home networkcontrol apparatus 103 receives data via the internet. The explanationbelow describes a case that a non-IP peripheral device on IEEE 1394network 104 of home A transmits data to a non-IP peripheral device onIEEE 1394 network 104 of home B.

[0065]FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate a flowchart such that home networkcontrol apparatus 103 of home B as a receiving side provides datareceived from internet service provider 102 b to non-IP peripheralapparatus 105 to complete the processing.

[0066] In home network control apparatus 103 of home B as the receivingside, outside connection communication section 205 operates to access tointernet service provider 102 b, and acquires data addressed to the homeB (ST51 and ST52). The section 205 fetches as the data addressed to homeB data having as a designation address an IP address according with theIP address registered with management table 212 installed in homenetwork control apparatus 103.

[0067] IP processing section 208 checks the IP address of the fetchedreceived data to identify a type of the IP address (ST53). Specifically,the section 208 identifies whether the IP address is of IPv4 or of IPv6.

[0068] When the section 208 judges at step ST53 that an IPv4 peripheraldevice is designated with an IPv6 address, the IPv6 address is convertedinto a corresponding IPv4 address (ST56 and ST57) with an IP tunnelingtechnique. Assume that an algorithm for converting IP addresses confirmsto RFC of IETF, and that IP datagram is stored in first memory section207.

[0069] Next system control section 201 specifies a peripheral devicehaving the IP address according with the IP address of the received databy referring to management table 212 (ST58, ST59 and ST60). For example,when the IP address of the received data is 133.185.245.9, the section201 finds it on a column of IP address 302 in management table 212, andaccording to the contents of the table, recognizes that the destinationindicates the printer on the IEEE 1394 network.

[0070] System control section 201 judges a device attribute andapplication type of the peripheral device specified with the IP addressfrom management table 212 (ST61). Further, when the destinationindicates a non-IP peripheral device on the IEEE 1394 network, thesection 201 concurrently acquires the node ID.

[0071] There is a possibility depending on the received data that aperipheral device of the destination is not able to handle the receiveddata when the data is transferred to the device as it is. It is assumedthat the datagram stored in first memory section 207 is scanner datatransmitted via internet 101, and therefore is not capable of beingoutput to the printer directly. It is necessary to convert the dataprovided from the transmitting side into data with format enabling thedevice at the receiving side to process. As described above,applications for converting data into another data with format thatrespective peripheral devices are capable of interpreting are installedin the home network control apparatus for each peripheral device, andthe application numbers are set in management table 212.

[0072] System control section 210 acquires the application number frommanagement table 212, and notifies application converting section 203 ofthe application number, and the section 203 starts up the correspondingsoftware to perform conversion processing. The data converted with theconverting program is stored again in first memory section 207 (ST63).

[0073] Next system control section 201 starts up a printer driver toconvert the data into printer data (ST64). In order to output converteddata stored in first memory section 207, a frame confirming to IEEE 1394is generated with the node ID acquired at the above-mentioned step ST61as a destination (ST65). Then the frame is transferred to the printer onIEEE 1394 network 104 (ST66).

[0074] According to this embodiment as described above, when remotedisplay device 108 is connected to IEEE 1394 network 104, home networkcontrol apparatus 103 receives a request from remote display device 108,shows a display for use in operating a device to be operated on remotedisplay device 108, and controls the device to be operated according toa desired operation input from remote display device 108, whereby it ispossible to achieve high operability without changing man-machineinterfaces of preexisting peripheral devices.

[0075] Further, when peripheral devices have different applications, anapplication type of a device to be operated is recognized frommanagement table 212 and data is converted into another data with formatadapted to the device to be operated as an output destination, wherebyit is possible to communicate data between devices with different dataformats.

[0076] Furthermore, management table 212 manages node IDs 301, deviceattributes 304, and application types 305 based on IP addresses ofnon-IP peripheral devices, the non-IP peripheral devices that are notcapable of directly connecting to the internet conventionally arecapable of receiving service supply via the internet such as informationretrieval, information collection and e-mail, and the use ofapplications is made possible to operate devices connected to differenthome electric appliances networks via the internet.

[0077] In addition, while in this embodiment as described above all theperipheral devices are showed on the initial operation display, it maybe possible to limit peripheral devices to be showed to some of them inadvance according to each condition. For example, a connected peripheraldevice may be specified that exists in the vicinity of remote displaydevice 108 based on a network structure of IEEE 1394 network 104, anddevices related to the contents of operations that the specified deviceis capable of performing may be showed. For example, while all theprinters (three) are showed on the initial operation display illustratedin FIG. 5, the display may be composed so that printers except a laserprinter are not showed when remote display device 108 is connected tothe laser printer existing in the vicinity of the device 108. The numberof peripheral devices to be showed on the initial operation display isthereby reduced, and therefore it is possible to prevent the occurrenceof wrong selection and to improve the operability.

[0078] Further the remote display device may be provided with a browserfunction, and the home network control apparatus may be provided with afunction of a WWW server for storing files to achieve theabove-mentioned operation contents. Then, data may be communicatedbetween the remote display device and the home network control apparatususing xML text (structured text such as HTML). Furthermore, the homenetwork is not limited to IEEE 1394 network and Ethernet. For example,it may be possible to apply, for example, a home network architectureusing telephone lines, and home RF such as Blue Tooth that is ashort-distance wireless standard.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for remotely operating a plurality of information devices connected to a network provided with a plug-and-play function, said apparatus comprising: a communication section that is configured to receive data from the network, while transmitting data to the information devices on the network; a connection detecting section that is configured to analyze the data received from the communication section to detect that a remote display device is connected to the network, said remote display device providing an operation environment concerning a device to be operated to a user; a display generating section that is configured to generate an input display for use in inputting data instructed by the user to an information device selected by the user as the device to be operated, and transmit a generated input display to a detected remote display device; and a control section that is configured to control the device to be operated according to the data instructed by the user that is received at the communication section when the data instructed by the user is input on the input display on the remote display device.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the display generating section generates a selection display to determine the device to be operated when the remote display device is connected to the network, and transmits a generated selection display to the detected remote display device, and the control section determines the device to be operated based on selection data received from the communication section when the selection data is input on the selection display on the remote display device.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the display generating section generates the selection display on which icons of information devices are showed that needs support of the remote display device to operate.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the display generating section generates the selection display including a character sequence for an operation guidance to the user.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the control section determines contents of operations corresponding to a combination of the icons selected on the selection display on the remote display device.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when the apparatus receives from the remote display device a request for displaying a status of the device to be operated with the device designated, the apparatus transmits a status display indicative of the status of the device to be operated to the remote display device to display.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising: a management table with which information on programs for converting format of data so that each of the information devices connected to the network is capable of handling the data; a first storing section that stores the programs; and a second storing section that stores input data from an information device selected as the device to be operated, wherein based on the information on programs registered with the management table, the control section starts up a program to convert the input data into data with format for an other device to be operated selected as another device to be operated.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the network is an IEEE 1394 network operating in conformity to IEEE 1394, and the management table has unique ID inherent to each information device including the remote display device, node ID assigned to the information device connected to the IEEE network and the information on programs in relation to each other.
 9. The apparatus according claim 8 , further comprising: an outside communication section that is configured to perform a communication over the internet; an IP address identifying section that is configured to identify a destination IP address from internet data received via the internet; an address relating table that relates an IP address assigned or a virtual IP address virtually assigned to the information device to the unique IP address; and a destination adapting section that is configured to add the unique ID corresponding to the virtual IP address to a destination portion at a header based on the address relating table to transmit on the network when the destination IP address of the internet data is the virtual IP address.
 10. A remote display device that is recognized by the apparatus according to claim 1 when said device is connected to a network provided with a plug-and-play function, said device comprising: a communication section that is configured to communicate according to a protocol of the network; a display section that is configured to display the input display received from the network through the communication section; and an instruction recognizing section that is configured to recognize the input data input by the user on the input display to transmit to the apparatus according to claim 1 .
 11. A method for remotely operating a plurality of information devices connected to a network provided with a plug-and-play function, said method comprising: analyzing data received from the network to detect that a remote display device is connected to the network, said remote display device providing an operation environment concerning a device to be operated to a user; generating an input display for use in inputting data instructed by the user to an information device selected by the user as the device to be operated, and transmitting a generated input display to a detected remote display device; and controlling the device to be operated according to the data instructed by the user that is received from the network when the data instructed by the user is input on the input display on the remote display device. The present invention is not limited to the above described embodiments, and various variations and modifications may be possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. This application is based on the Japanese Patent Application No.2000-013706 filed on Jan. 24, 2000, entire content of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein. 